Page:A History of Art in Ancient Egypt Vol 1.djvu/416

 326 A History of Art in Ancient Egypt. In these days none of their outward faces are visible, but according to Mariette, who, doubtless, had inspected them by means of temporary excavation, nothing is to be seen but " smoothlv polished surfaces, decorated with long vertical and horizontal grooves skilfully interlaced ; in one corner there is a door, the only one, and that very small." ^ For the last thirty years there has been much controversy as to the true character of this curious monument. Mariette himself allows us to see that he could not convince himself of its real meaning : " It cannot be doubted that this buildine dates from the time of the pyramids ; but is it a temple or a tomb ? Its ex- ternal appearance is, it must be confessed, more that of a tomb than of a temple. From a distance it must have looked not unlike a mastaba from Sakkarah or Abousir, which it but slightly excelled in size. The six deep niches which exist in the interior recall the internal arrangements of the pyramid of Mycerinus and the Mastabat-el-Faraoun, and the general plan resembles that of several other tombs in the neighbourhood. It appears, therefore, that the hypothesis which would make it a sepulchre might be upheld without violating the rules which should guide the archaeologist. . . . On the other hand it may, very naturally, be asserted that, as the Sphinx is a god, it must be the Temple of the Sphinx." ^ This latter hypothesis seems to have found most favour with Mariette. The rectangular niches, which at first seemed to him to be intended for funerary purposes, were accounted for in another way. " May they not be here," he asks, " what the crypt is at the temple of Denderah ? " And he does not hesitate to employ the terms Temple of the SpJiinx, and Temple of Hannachis. He does not give his reasons, but to some extent we can supply them. Every mastaba of any importance has funerary representations upon it, and inscriptions containing both the name of the deceased and those magical formula; which we have already explained ; the v>^alls display his portrait and the whole course of his posthumous life. The humblest of these tombs shows at least a stele upon which the name of the defunct is inscrib- ed together with the prayer which is to insure him the benefit of 1 Mariette, Questions relatives aux nouvelles Fouilles a fain en Egypte. {Acadeinie des hiscripiions, Comptes Rendus des Seances de FAnvce, 1877, pp. 427-473.) " Jti}ieraire des Invites du Vice-roi^ p. 99.